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6 lb 12.5 oz

Although the sword is emphasized by our imaginations of the Vikings, the axe and the spear were by far the more common weapons. The axe, like the sword, could be made with great care and craftsmanship, and many were given names of power (like swords).

No Viking homestead would go without a stout-headed utility axe for splitting wood and hammering stakes. This could be used in a pinch for defense, but the woodman’s axe was not ideal for war. It was thick bladed and ill-balanced. For war, the Viking preferred an axe designed to slay men, not trees.

Contrary to popular depiction, the war axe is not a brutishly wielded device of destruction used only in wild swings to smash the foe asunder. The cunning Viking could use the long lower half of the axe, the ‘’beard’’ for a number of tricks - he could use it to hook behind the ankle of head of the foe and throw him off balance. A shield could be hooked and pulled from his grip and some even used to axe to hook into the wall of a wooden palisade and pull themselves over the walls with their axe handles! The back end of the head could be used as a mallet to stun or crush in a backswing and the tips, if sharpened, could pierce and gouge. Clearly the axe of war was a sophisticated tool giving its wielder a wide range of options to win his fight.

This Viking Axe has a thick, heavy steel head that has been blackened. The haft is of wood and the head is held in place by spiralled leather affixing the head to shaft. The leather has been pinned to the wood in several places. Glue has also been used to bond the head to the haft. Though the handle is short, the axe head is heavy, making this axe large and weighty for its type.